Since Dellucci will be gone awhile, trade with Texas for Lofton. He still has speed and would be our left-handed outfielder. See if the Red Sox have any interest in bringing back Trot as a bench guy. Trade Sowers, Cabrera, Crowe, and something minor to the Nationals for Dmitri Young and Chad Cordero. Young and Garko split time at first depending on the pitcher/situation. Corderro goes into the pen for a closer/set up guy arm. To accomodate 2 first basemen, we send Francisco back to Buffalo until the rosters expand. In the playoffs, you go with a 4 man rotation, so you would carry 1 less pitcher than normal, so you can carry an extra stick then. This gives us more offense than we currently have and the speed game with Gutierrez, Barfield, Sizemore, and Lofton would be fun on the basepaths.

captain_wahoo wrote:Since Dellucci will be gone awhile, trade with Texas for Lofton. He still has speed and would be our left-handed outfielder. See if the Red Sox have any interest in bringing back Trot as a bench guy. Trade Sowers, Cabrera, Crowe, and something minor to the Nationals for Dmitri Young and Chad Cordero. Young and Garko split time at first depending on the pitcher/situation. Corderro goes into the pen for a closer/set up guy arm. To accomodate 2 first basemen, we send Francisco back to Buffalo until the rosters expand. In the playoffs, you go with a 4 man rotation, so you would carry 1 less pitcher than normal, so you can carry an extra stick then. This gives us more offense than we currently have and the speed game with Gutierrez, Barfield, Sizemore, and Lofton would be fun on the basepaths.

He's a hard thrower and under control for awhile unlike Borowski. I wouldn't give him Borowski's job unless Borowski gets hurt or turns into Todd Jones. I know Lofton and Young aren't blockbusters, but let's face it, any big name we go for will cost us too much in the way of players, and I can't see Shapiro doing that.

captain_wahoo wrote:He's a hard thrower and under control for awhile unlike Borowski. I wouldn't give him Borowski's job unless Borowski gets hurt or turns into Todd Jones. I know Lofton and Young aren't blockbusters, but let's face it, any big name we go for will cost us too much in the way of players, and I can't see Shapiro doing that.

Lofton gives us a left handed outfielder who is better than Lofton or Dellucci. He has more speed, better defense, and actually a better hitter. Young is having a great year and I'm sure he would love to help stick it to the Tigers for dumping him last year. You're right that these guys aren't all-stars, but we won't trade for all-stars. Young/Garko/Martinez at first gives us the flexibility to keep people fresh, plus I'd rather have Young pinch hit than Rouse or Michaels. Corderro I think struggles because he knows he has no help and feels he has to do it himself. Acquire him and make him asetup guy at the back end with Betancourt and Perez.

captain_wahoo wrote:He's a hard thrower and under control for awhile unlike Borowski. I wouldn't give him Borowski's job unless Borowski gets hurt or turns into Todd Jones. I know Lofton and Young aren't blockbusters, but let's face it, any big name we go for will cost us too much in the way of players, and I can't see Shapiro doing that.

captain_wahoo wrote:Lofton gives us a left handed outfielder who is better than Lofton or Dellucci. He has more speed, better defense, and actually a better hitter. Young is having a great year and I'm sure he would love to help stick it to the Tigers for dumping him last year. You're right that these guys aren't all-stars, but we won't trade for all-stars. Young/Garko/Martinez at first gives us the flexibility to keep people fresh, plus I'd rather have Young pinch hit than Rouse or Michaels. Corderro I think struggles because he knows he has no help and feels he has to do it himself. Acquire him and make him asetup guy at the back end with Betancourt and Perez.

Why does this town have such an affinity for 4th and 5th outfielders? Lofton is 40 years old and he couldn't throw when he was 27. If he's an upgrade over what you have then you invested too much in those guys.
Michaels, Dellucci, Nixon, Gutierrez, Francisco aren't enough as far as mediocre corner outfielders? Now we want to bring back a 40 year old with no corner outfield experience and throw him in the mix.

I'm as nostalgic as the next guy, but let Lofton fade into the sunset somewhere else.

As to Dmitri Young, I'd like to see him go a full year without abusing drugs, abusing chicks and abusing clubhouse furniture and food spreads before I look at his ability to hit over his ability to blow up and sink a club.

This is the first trade proposal that I have heard that brings Kenny Lofton into the picture. I was listening to the radio the other day and heard plenty of people talking about bringing Jim Thome back as well. What is with everyone wanting to bring back these guys from the glory days? They are old and pretty much at the end of the line.

I think we need to forget about the past and worry about players that can help us now, not ten years ago. Chad Cordero would certainly not be a bad pick-up, but his struggles are obviously concerning. Call me crazy, but I think Andruw Jones is extremely attainable right now. The only problem is next year...would he ever consider staying in Cleveland if we offered him enough money? His value has decreased greatly this season.

Actually, obtaining Lofton makes some sense. He still hits well, gets on base, plays good defense, and steals bases. Would be a nice upgrade to the team speed-wise that's for sure. I actually wouldn't mind going with a Lofton platoon with one of the righties Michaels, Gutierrez, and Francisco.

That's the thing, I'm not so sure that he would be fine playing LF. Also, where is he going to hit? Is Wedge really going to shift around his entire line-up so Lofton can hit at the top? I don't know if he would want to come to Cleveland again if that meant that he had to play LF and possibly hit at the bottom of the order.

Granted, he might be useful to the team now, but what would we have to give up in order to get him? And I don't think he's the kind of player that can put this team over the hump. We need a big bat.

Consigliere wrote:Actually, obtaining Lofton makes some sense. He still hits well, gets on base, plays good defense, and steals bases. Would be a nice upgrade to the team speed-wise that's for sure. I actually wouldn't mind going with a Lofton platoon with one of the righties Michaels, Gutierrez, and Francisco.

The question is, however, would Lofton be fine playing LF?

I respectfully disagree. I've seen that show twice now. There are a lot of guys out there who would be an upgrade in the speed department, including you and me.

And just how many platoon outfielders are they going to carry? Lefties and righties, one that can throw, one that can run, one with a little more pop in his bat than the others, etc..... By the time you add up the cash they're paying these guys (and throw Blake in there too as they sure saw him as an OF at the start of the year) you're probably spending Vlad money.

Give me an everyday guy. Get me a Brad Hawpe or someone like that you can put out there everyday. A Raul Ibanez, a David DeJesus (who is dying on the vine in KC).

I'd also like to see a run atBrad Lidge when healthy. Change to the AL for the career NL guy would be nice.

Last edited by peeker643 on Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm not completely against the Lofton idea. However, as stated he has to play left and he has to come relatively cheap. (for those reasons I don't think he would come)

It would be a good PR move and overall it would make for an interesting move for the lineup because I would envision the lineup below being the everyday one, with Gutierrez and Nixon as the platoon in right.

I'm just not sure though you tinker with the lineup that much when you are tied for first. Then again I think if you look at our team as it currently stands if we want to make it over the hump I think we have 2 areas that need to be focused 1) bullpen 2) solidify a corner outfield spot.

The bullpen market looks bleak at this point with all the teams in contention (case in point, how we are handling Adam Miller) however, the corner outfield spot there are a lot of possibilities and with that a dwindling asking price each day passes.

Peeker643 wrote:Give me an everyday guy. Get me a Brad Hawpe or someone like that you can put out there everyday. A Raul Ibanez, a David DeJesus (who is dying on the vine in KC).

I'd also like to see a run atBrad Lidge when healthy. Change to the AL for the career lefty would be nice.

Oh, I like DeJesus. He definitely cooled off A LOT after his hot start this year, but he would be a good pick-up for the Tribe. He would come cheap, and Kansas City could definitely use some pitching help. Besides, they have enough young talent, including Billy Butler, coming up from the minors. I do remember DeJesus being referred to as "the poor man's Johnny Damon". I would take that.